Snow lotus, also known as snow lotus flower, big toe flower, big wood flower, is a flowering herb of the Asteraceae family, including species such as Saussurea laniceps, Saussurea macrophylla, and Saussurea medusa. Snow lotus is warm in nature, with a sweet and bitter taste. It enters the liver, spleen, and kidney meridians, and has the functions of dispelling cold, strengthening yang, regulating menstruation, and stopping bleeding. It is used to treat impotence, weak waist and knees, irregular menstruation, excessive menstrual flow, leukorrhea, rheumatoid arthritis, and external bleeding. "Compendium of Materia Medica Supplementary" states that snow lotus has a "hot nature and can nourish essence and strengthen yang"; "Xinjiang Chinese Herbal Medicine" states that "snow lotus is warm and slightly bitter, and has the function of dispelling wind and dampness". In the market, there are often roses pretending to be snow lotus flowers, so it is important to be careful when identifying them in clinical practice.
Genuine Snow Lotus Flower
1. Saussurea laniceps: The whole plant is densely covered with white or pale yellow long hairs. The stem is often hollow and cylindrical. The leaves are alternate, dense, sessile, and have brown-black residual leaf blades at the base. They are lanceolate or narrowly ovate, with feathered or coarse-toothed margins. The plant has numerous dense head-like inflorescences. The involucre is narrowly lanceolate, glabrous, glossy, with a central herbaceous region and a membranous margin. The flowers are hermaphroditic, with tubular corollas and lanceolate lobes. The achene is flattened, brown, and inconspicuously four-angled.
2. Saussurea macrophylla: The stem is stout, with densely clustered brownish-brown residual leaf blades at the base. The head-like inflorescence is terminal. The involucre is ovate and leaf-like, resembling a membranous texture, and appears white or pale green-yellow. The flowers are brown-purple and all tubular. The achene is spiny.
3. Saussurea medusa: The stem is short and thick, with dense leaves and long and flat petioles. The leaf blades are ovate or ovate-lanceolate, with serrated edges. The upper leaves become rhombic or lanceolate, with winged petioles extending from the base. The head-like inflorescence has no peduncle and is spherical. The flowers are purple. The achene has two layers of pappus, with an outer layer of spines and an inner layer of feathers.
Fake Snow Lotus Flower
It is often replaced with roses. The semi-opened dried flowers are spherical, with scattered and fragmented petals. The size of the flowers is about 2 centimeters, much smaller than genuine snow lotus flowers. The flowers are purple or pink, with many elongated petals with veins. The center has a yellow stamen and the lower end has a swollen round receptacle. The texture is brittle and easily broken. Fake roses are neither in the same family as snow lotus nor possess the various medicinal properties of snow lotus, so they cannot replace the use of snow lotus in medicine.
